Monday, December 28, 2009

Anchored Utilities take over


Here are some cools sites I’ve been looking at in while researching examples of rich on-page functionality.

Billboard.com

http://www.billboard.com

Rich audio player, navigation and contextual data visualization are furnished through anchored utilities - tools anchored to the top and side of the browser


Samsung’s new site

http://www.samsung.com/us/

Gorgeous full screen image replaces marquee and anchored comparison tool provides a visual shopping basket experience









NASA Image Gallery

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/iotd.html

Images are stacked like slides in a projector to save space, while users can see each thumbnail on rolling over it










The MOMA website

http://www.moma.org

The tool bar anchored at the bottom of the page unfurls to show my saved pieces as I add them to my collection.










BBC Website

http://www.bbc.co.uk/

A menu unfurls over page content to let users select customization options.










Borders Marquee

http://www.borders.com/online/store/Home

The marquee space is a virtual bookstore, letting users browse different bookshelves and flick through book covers, like apple’s coverflow










Daily Beast Feature Story maps

http://www.thedailybeast.com/big-fat-story

Everyday they map out related stories in a spider chart to show relationships and key players. Great way to tie together complicated content and ideas










MSNBC news stories

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32732677/ns/business-eye_on_the_economy/

The anchored utility at the bottom provides quick access to related rich assets like video